A Guide To Creating A Brand Book

This article is a guide to creating a brand book. It has been designed to give the reader a comprehensive list of what should be included in such a document: many of the current search results on the internet provide examples of famous brand’s brand books which are only, what I would call, “abridge versions” (i.e., those summarised with non sensitive information).

The reality is, a brand book should contain detail information on how a product or service should be marketed and sold. It is a key document for sales and marketing teams (particularly those operating within a B2B environment). There should be a number of versions produced: the core version should be restricted for internal use only and contain strategic information about the brand (details will be covered later in this article); the re-seller version should have certain sections of the “sensitive” information removed (the level of editing will be dependent on the type of agreements you have with your re-sellers); finally the agencies, press & public versions should be limited to the design sections.

Brand Books should be developed for all types of brands including corporate, product and services. They are ideal for global organisations looking to maintain a consistent, effective and efficient marketing process: the central function takes the hit for all the development costs while the local units focus on adapting it to their particular country’s needs. They can also help smaller organisations by providing a framework for how each brand should be managed.

The brand book should start with an “introduction”, this will give the reader an insight into the product or service being promoted. It should explain whom it is for and how they should use it: in my experience brand books are usually designed for:

The organisation’s marketing and sales teams.
The re-seller’s marketing and sales teams.
Advertising, PR, digital and design agencies.
Press and the general public.

The document should clearly highlight the brand’s positioning and its creative concepts. If it is a new brand then there should also be a launch and sales plan. As an absolute minimum the brand book needs to have a section on the design elements of the brand. The Brand Book should be made up of four sections:

Introduction.
Design & Branding.
Marketing.
Selling.

Lets now look at these sections individually:

The Introduction.

The introduction is meant to provide the reader with a basic insight to the brand. The elements that make up the introduction are:

Product / Service Introduction.
The product or service summary highlights the brand’s key points and provides an outline of what it does. You should include a section that identifies the key contacts (usually the brand or marketing manager).

Unique Selling Point.
The “Unique Selling Point” (USP) is an important factor for any brand as it helps the sales and marketing teams sell the product. Ideally you will already have done some market research and have confirmed that the USP is something that the customers will want. You may have more than one USP, if so you will be in an even stronger position.

Positioning.
Each brand should have a clear positioning statement. This will ensure that the sales efforts for the organisation remain focused. It is also a way of confirming that the organisation operates efficiently in its target market, you must remember to monitor it because if it is not working then you may need to change the positioning proposition.

Features & Benefits.
A features & benefits list will greatly help the sales and marketing teams develop a story for the brand. Ideally the features & benefits should also be compared against competitor brands. Depending on the complexity of the market, this section may be expanded to include a more detail analysis of the competitive landscape.

Key Messages.
The USP(s), positioning statement, features and benefits are all the factors used to create the key messages. These need to be included in the brand book as the messages will then be used for the development of future campaigns and selling practices. The brand manager will need to again monitor such campaigns to ensure that there is no deviation from the original pitch.

Pricing Strategy.
A review of the pricing strategy is another important feature of the brand book. This is one section of the brand book that should be restricted. Pricing strategies are extremely important for B2B organisations, as they tend to operate in a more fluid-valuing environment. It can also be useful for your classic B2C brands, particularly in relation to creating goodwill: simple guidance to staff on discounts related to customer service issues will go a long way in helping retain customers.

Product / Service Details.
The product / service details provide readers with a more comprehensive review of the actual product or service. If it is a product it should include all the packaging aspects, how the product is to be displayed and the product specifications. If it is a service, then there should be guidelines on the service protocols and specifications.

The Design and Branding.

The design and branding section deals with the brand signature, this is made up of the Brandmark or Logo, the Logo Type, the Strap or Tagline, Icons, Colour Palette, Typography, Music and Videos (certain products will also need a section on packaging and display). It is extremely important that the brand identity remains consistent and memorable. There should be examples of how each element of the Brand Signature is used and examples of how it shouldn’t be used. There should also be specific examples of the following:

• All stationery.
• Business cards.
• PowerPoint presentations.
• Email Signatures.
• Videos (more specifically around watermarks, titles, credits, etc).
• Websites.
• Social Media.
• Other marketing collateral.

When producing a brand book you should also include a disk, USB storage devise or link to a portal with the key designs in the following formats: high and low JPEGS and PNGs, EPS and PDFs.

Marketing.

The marketing section should remind the reader of the business opportunity. It should then go into the marketing strategy detail, highlighting when campaigns should take place and through what medium. There should also be a detail plan of the Promotional Mix. If this is a new brand (or brand extension) you should create and include a launch strategy, highlighting the launch tools and timelines. Please do not underestimate the importance of such a launch plan: if you are working with a production facility you need to be sure that you have the required stocks in place of the correct quality. You also need to prepare contingency plans in case the sales exceed expectation or fail.

Selling.

The final section focuses on the selling: I will always argue that every brand needs to include “People” as part of the marketing mix. This “People” aspect will incorporate the sales teams. They play a big part in ensuring that the brand is successful. This section of the brand book should be seen as the training aid for these sales teams.

So there you have it a very quick summary of what should be included in a brand book, in my opinion this should be the minimum. If you can think of anymore sections to add then please add it to the comments below.

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Alan Shaw

Director & Senior Lecturer at Strategic Planet & Leeds Beckett University

Dr Alan Shaw is a Senior Lecturer and Marketing consultant focusing on a range of sectors. His main interests are in strategy development, social marketing, digital marketing, advertising, consumer behaviour and marketing application.